The Earl of Munsterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will instruct the National Rivers Authority and the Office of Water Services to ensure that supplies of water to existing commercial and domestic customers will not be prejudiced by the supply of water to new leisure facilities, and that such supply does not lead to abstraction from aquifers faster than the rate of their recharge.
§ Baroness BlatchNo instructions are necessary. Under the Water Act 1989, the responsibility for ensuring the adequacy of water supplies to customers rests primarily with the water companies, whose performance is monitored by the Director General of Water Services. The National Rivers Authority takes account of a wide range of factors in determining abstraction licence applications, including the rate of recharge where water is drawn from aquifers.
The Earl of Munsterasked Her Majesty's Government:
How the National Rivers Authority will assess the long-term implications for water resources of the increase in applications for golf facilities which require large amounts of water to maintain the playing surface; and
What steps the National Rivers Authority is taking to protect ground water of potable quality, given predictions by the International Panel for Climate Change and a general increase in pressure for abstraction.
§ Baroness BlatchThe National Rivers Authority (NRA) takes into account these and other factors, which affect the demand or availability of water, in devising strategies with the water companies for the development of resources both nationally and locally. In determining applications for abstraction licences, the NRA considers the short- and long-term implications for the resources affected, including any effects on water quality.